Aplikasi v2 - Blog by Iman Haniff

Ready to turn your business challenges into success stories? Let’s explore how Aplikasi can simplify and streamline your operations—just like we’ve done for businesses across various industries.

[Case Study] AE Aequitas Sdn Bhd: Asset Movement & Management System

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 15:09:43 +0800

[Case Study] AE Aequitas Sdn Bhd: Asset Movement & Management System

Business Case at a Glance

AE Aequitas Sdn Bhd is a fast-growing safety services and engineering company in Malaysia that specialises in fire protection systems. Their services include maintenance of the fire protection system. For that, we offer Aequitas an efficient fire extinguisher management system powered by Zoho. They have been running things manually, and after a fateful meeting with Aplikasi, they decided to go with Zoho People and Zoho Expense for its 33 employees thus far. With the dedication and help from Aplikasi, the implementation was a success, covering two locations in just over a month.

Company Background

Aequitas is a fire extinguisher service company that has served and still serves reputable MNCs in Malaysia. With the recent advancement in technology and the pressing need to keep up, the company is desperate for a solution that would help. However, cost is a major concern for them, as it is for most SMEs. After a meeting in an unlikely venue—the hospital cafeteria—its CEO, Ridzuan, was awed by the depth of what Zoho People and Expenses had to offer at such an affordable price and decided to get on board right away.

AE Aequitas Sdn Bhd evolved from another company and is now primarily focused on providing fire extinguisher services throughout Malaysia. The company has three operations centres covering different parts of Malaysia. Currently, it has 33 dedicated employees, most of whom are on the field. Ridzuan, the CEO of the company, is the one who’s responsible for the start of the company’s digital transformation journey. With a lot more challenges coming their way, Ridzuan and his dedicated team aspire to fully transform their business with other Zoho apps as well.

The Challenge

Prior to their engagement with Aplikasi, all their jobs namely work monitoring, claim processing, attendance, and collaboration—were done manually. Because the operations team's jobs require a lot of traveling, there are a lot of claims. The whole process of applying for claims and approving them took the company two weeks per month to settle them. This job involves the finance department, the clerk, and also the HR department, and the 2-week cycle is killing their productivity.

The next phase involved heavily configuring and customising Zoho CRM to be a Fire Extinguisher Servicing System. Previously, as with their HR processes, everything was done manually, and there was no centralised database for all their assets. Technicians have their own logbooks for deliveries and pick-ups, and as the process is analogue, there is no transparency as well. Tanks' whereabouts cannot be traced should they be lost, and this is a major problem.

Finding the Solution

Ridzuan (Aequitas CEO) never knew about Zoho before he met us. All he knew then was that he needs to find a solution fast, but he needs to find the one he can pay for. He told this to his friend, who happens to be a mutual friend of Aplikasi’s founder, Azlan. In just two days, the meeting was set. Upon explanation and a short demo by Aplikasi, Ridzuan decided that every problem his company was having could be solved by Zoho People and Zoho Expense. On top of that, the price tag is exactly what he is looking for.

Aplikasi is a consultant partner for Aequitas, promising a smooth-sailing implementation of Zoho People and Zoho Expense. Aequitas does not have any IT-savvy personnel or change management professionals, so that’s where Aplikasi comes in. With years of experience in handling change management projects and SAP implementation and consultation, Aplikasi is convinced that they are able to help Aequitas end-to-end. Aplikasi also helped in redefining and restructuring Aequitas business processes that would otherwise be inefficient and time-consuming.

Implementations & Results

The whole implementation process which includes requirement gathering, customization and settings, review, fixes, training, and user acceptance test (UAT) only took a month to complete. The company notices an immediate improvement in their business processes after going live. In their claims process for example, it took them 2 weeks per month to settle everything; from claim applications to verification, approval, and reimbursement as the operation team’s work is mostly on the go. Hundreds of papers are documented every month to store the receipts and application forms. Three departments: Human Resource, Administration, and Finance would be busy handling the claim process. Zoho Expense immediately eliminates all the paperwork, and what’s most apparent is that it reduces 80% of the whole cycle process from 10 days to just 2 days.

With Zoho Expense, nobody has to be physically in the office to submit and approve the claims, and the capture receipt function in Zoho Expense makes it possible for the receipts to be stored without wasting papers and space. As for their leave management, the same benefit of saving paper can be observed. Now, with the convenience of the Zoho People mobile app, both requesters and approvers can do their jobs on the go. Attendance tracking and remote working monitoring are also possible now, promoting transparency and ensuring resources are being spent appropriately and responsibly.

The Fire Extinguisher Management System proved to be a challenging task indeed, as a lot of customization and configuration needed to be done to the CRM. The implementation focused on transparent and real-time database updates from each technician and each pickup and delivery. Having it integrated with Zoho Forms has made it possible for the technicians on the field to transfer information to the back office for further processing. The implementation also involves scanning devices and barcode printers, which would have the numbers generated from CRM automatically and later be used in asset tracing.

What our client says about our service?

I really hope that with Zoho People and Expense implementation, it can boost our productivity and save us valuable time and effort. With efficiency and transparency, I believe the application can help us to focus on business growth rather than spending most of our time managing small things.
— Mr. Ridzuan, CEO of AE Aequitas Sdn Bhd

What apps have been deployed

Zoho CRM

Zoho Form

Zoho People

Zoho Expense

Ready to turn your business challenges into success stories? Let’s explore how Aplikasi can simplify and streamline your operations—just like we’ve done for businesses across various industries.

[Case Study] HRDCorp: Customer Service Automation

Tue, 08 Sep 2026 11:59:15 +0800

[Case Study] HRDCorp: Customer Service Automation

Quick Read

Problem Statement

Not enough agents to handle tickets, resulting to bad customer satisfaction
Manual ticket transfer between departments which takes too much time and oversight
No convenient channel to reach actual agents
Unsystematic Knowledge Base management

Proposed Solution

Ticket automation to transfer between departments
Automatic replies in ticket management
Proper catelogue management for Knowledge Base
A chat tool to enable customers to reach actual agents

Implementation and Results

Auto-reply and convenient ticket transfer improved reply and resolution time.
No tickets are left to be uncategorized and unaccounted for.
Easier navigation and access to information for HRDCorp's customers.

Read the full case study here

Business Case at a Glance

HRDCorp has been using Zoho Desk to handle hundreds of tickets a day, but unfortunately, it has not been used to its full capacity. Although agents do have a place to look at all their tickets, no defined process was in place, and thus there was no automation possible that could have helped ease the burden on the support agents.

Company Background

HRDCorp is a government-linked company (GLC) in Malaysia that manages and promotes human capital development through various channels, methods, and events. When a company reaches a certain size in terms of the number of employees, they're required to be registered with HRDCorp and will be obligated to contribute a fraction of their revenue. In return, HRDCorp provides resources and means to improve the skills of the employees. Having said that, HRDCorp is a large organisation and is constantly addressing the issues and concerns of its contributors.

The Challenge

Zoho Desk was only used as a database to keep track of all the tickets and respond to them. However, when hundreds of tickets come in a day, it becomes too overwhelming for the service agents to keep track of them, which leads to unattended tickets. That, in turn, leads to unsatisfactory service quality, as seen by the contributors.

The agents are also faced with issues where they are overwhelmed with direct calls from employers and employees alike. More time spent answering calls means fewer issues that can be addressed per day. Most of the issues are solvable by referring to existing articles in the knowledge base.

Finding the Solution

As such, our focus when trying to solve this issue is on simplifying some of the processes, defining them, and taking a load off of their shoulders in general. Because HRDCorp cannot afford to have downtime, we do have to keep that in mind when offering our consultation and finding the best possible solution.

Implementations & Results

The first thing that we did was make clear distinctions between the numerous departments in the organisation and define teams in each of the departments. Then, an automation is being put in place to automate ticket assignment according to the defined criteria. This eliminates the need for the agents to do it manually, a task that consumes a lot of time, more so when the agent is relatively new.

Then, we implemented blueprints so that everybody, regardless of their role, could know what they had to do as instructed by the system. This allows less time for training agents and memorising the steps as the system has dictated what must be done step by step.

We make use of the Knowledge Base in Zoho Desk and integrate it with SalesIQ, where we built a chatbot that would entertain the visitors by default when they visit HRDCorp's website. This has reduced the agents' interaction time with the visitors considerably. This means that they can focus their resources on doing more important things.

What our client says about our service?

Aplikasi has been extremely helpful during the implementation period and they provide superb support. They have been supportive and accommodating, and this is especially crucial as we can't afford to have any downtime whatsoever.
— HRDCorp Team

What apps have been deployed

Zoho Desk

Zoho SalesIQ

Ready to turn your business challenges into success stories? Let’s explore how Aplikasi can simplify and streamline your operations—just like we’ve done for businesses across various industries.

Rethinking the CRM Homepage

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 13:51:04 +0800

Rethinking the CRM Homepage

Introducing Canvas Home View in Zoho CRM

For most organisations, the CRM homepage is treated as a default starting point.

It shows activity. It shows numbers. It shows updates. But very few teams ever question whether it is actually helping people work better.

Over time, this becomes a blind spot. Teams adapt to the system instead of improving it. They click through multiple modules, rely on fragmented views, and spend unnecessary time navigating instead of acting.

At Aplikasi, we see this pattern consistently across SMEs and growing enterprises. The issue is not a lack of capability within the CRM. It is the absence of intentional design. Zoho CRM’s Canvas Home View addresses this directly.

Image Credit: Zoho CRM Official Page

From Static Dashboard to Operational Workspace

Canvas Home View introduces the ability to design your CRM homepage using a drag and drop interface, transforming it from a fixed dashboard into a configurable workspace.

This distinction matters.

A dashboard is passive. It displays information.

A workspace is active. It supports decision-making.

With Canvas, your homepage becomes a layer where data, actions, and priorities are structured in a way that aligns with how each role operates.

This is not about aesthetics. It is about operational efficiency.

Aligning CRM Experience with Role-Based Workflows

One of the most common inefficiencies in CRM usage comes from a one-size-fits-all interface. Sales, marketing, and support teams are often exposed to the same layout despite having fundamentally different priorities.

Canvas Home View enables organisations to design role-specific homepages that reflect how each function works.

Sales teams can prioritise pipeline visibility, deal progress, and follow-ups
Support teams can focus on ticket queues, response times, and workload distribution
Marketing teams can track campaign performance and engagement metrics

By structuring the homepage around role-specific needs, organisations reduce cognitive load and improve decision speed.

Users spend less time searching and more time executing.

Reducing Navigation Friction

In many CRM environments, valuable time is lost not in analysis, but in navigation. Users move between modules, open multiple tabs, and reconstruct context manually before taking action.

Canvas Home View reduces this friction by allowing key components such as dashboards, custom views, reports, and widgets to be assembled into a single, unified interface. Existing canvas list views can also be embedded directly into the homepage in different formats including card, tile, or table views.

This creates a consolidated working environment where information is already contextualised. The result is a shorter path from insight to action.

Enabling Business-Led Customisation

A common barrier to meaningful CRM customisation is technical dependency. Changes often require IT involvement, creating delays and limiting experimentation.

Canvas shifts this dynamic. With its drag and drop builder, business users can design and refine their own homepage layouts without coding.

This has two important implications:

Faster iteration
Teams can adjust their workspace as priorities evolve without waiting for technical resources
Closer alignment to actual workflows
The people using the system are the ones shaping it

This reduces the gap between system design and real-world usage.

Supporting Controlled Deployment

Flexibility without governance often leads to inconsistency. Canvas Home View balances both.

Organisations can design and test homepage configurations in a sandbox environment before deploying them to production.

Once validated, these configurations can be shared across users, roles, groups, and territories to ensure alignment at scale.

Additionally, the ability to associate queries directly with homepage components ensures that displayed data remains relevant and actionable. This approach supports both experimentation and standardisation.

Practical Impact on Daily Operations

To understand the impact, consider a typical sales workflow. Without optimisation, a sales manager may need to:

Navigate to the deals module to review pipeline
Open reports to track monthly performance
Check activities for follow-ups
Compile information mentally before prioritising actions

With Canvas Home View, these elements can be structured into a single interface.

Pipeline status, revenue progress, open deals, and pending follow-ups are visible immediately upon login.

This reduces context switching and enables faster, more informed decision-making at the start of the day.

Aplikasi’s Perspective

Technology alone does not create efficiency, structure does.

Canvas Home View is a powerful feature within Zoho CRM, but its effectiveness depends on how it is designed and aligned with your business processes.

At Aplikasi, our role is not just to implement systems, but to ensure they are structured in a way that supports how your teams actually work. This involves:

Defining what each role needs to see and act on
Designing layouts that reduce friction
Ensuring consistency across teams while allowing necessary flexibility

When done correctly, the CRM becomes more than a system of record. It becomes a system of action.

For teams looking to improve efficiency, reduce friction, and increase adoption, this is not just a feature update.

It is an opportunity to rethink how work gets done inside the CRM.

More info

[Case Study] Behind Carsome's Struggle

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 17:43:50 +0800

[Case Study] Carsome: Behind the Struggle with Customer Data

Business Case at a Glance

Carsome encountered a significant challenge in retrieving historical client data, magnified by a specialized CRM module that treated each customer interaction as a distinct entity and not linking it back to any specific customer record, complicating service delivery and made it impossible to churn out meaningful demographical analytics.

Additionally, the integration of their old and new databases within the CRM system posed another obstacle, resulting in a cluttered database and complicating the consolidation of information. The challenge for Carsome extended beyond acquiring the right tools; it involved finding a seamless integration method to ensure operational smoothness.

Therefore there is a need for a solution that can help keep things organized and make it easier to look back at past information, which is especially important for big companies. The key is for the system to handle these challenges, making sure that keeping track of interactions and people's information works together smoothly. It's like a careful dance, and when done right, it turns managing information into a smooth and organized process.

Company Background

In the dynamic landscape of the automotive sales industry, one name stands out prominently which is Carsome. For over six years, this avant-garde company has been revolutionizing the used car subsector. Established in 2015, Carsome has etched its mark as a formidable player in the market. In 2017, the company expanded its operations across Southeast Asia, a move that underscored its growing regional presence. Not content with the status quo, Carsome made waves in 2020 by acquiring major competitors, iCar Asia, and 2ndLease, cementing its position as a dominant market force.

At the heart of Carsome's operations lies a mission to simplify the complexities of buying and selling used cars. The company's core values, built on transparency, trust, and innovation, define its commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience. Carsome offers a comprehensive suite of services, encompassing inspections, certifications, and a digital marketplace for pre-owned vehicles. Their commitment to quality and reliability ensures that every car that passes through their platform is thoroughly vetted and backed by a warranty, giving customers peace of mind.

While the company website provides a detailed roster of key leadership personnel, one noteworthy figure is Co-founder and CEO, Eric Cheng. His visionary approach and leadership have played a pivotal role in steering Carsome toward its current success. With a steadfast commitment to their mission and values, Carsome continues to be a driving force in the used car industry, offering innovative solutions and trustworthy services to customers in Southeast Asia and beyond.

The Challenge

One of the foremost problems that Carsome faced was the inability to access historical data of a particular client. This issue stemmed from the fact that they had a custom module in their CRM system that created each old customer as a new entity, rather than connecting them to their existing records. Thus, this resulted in a situation that made it impossible to see old conversations and past deals making it tough to give top-notch services to customers.

Furthermore, Carsome faced a formidable challenge as they tried to integrate their old database with the new one within their CRM ecosystem. The failure to establish a seamless connection between the two databases created a disconnect that impeded their ability to gain a comprehensive view of their clients. This not only made it difficult to consolidate information but also led to a cluttered database.

These two problems contributed significantly to their inability to produce any meaningful customer-centric analytics which is pivotal in driving strategic decision-making.

Adding to their list of conundrums was the sheer volume of data that required migration. Carsome found themselves wrestling with the task of splitting this colossal chunk of data into separate modules, all the while ensuring that they were linked together for historical data preservation. They needed to put all the pieces together in the right way, but it was really tricky, and they didn't have all the right pieces to the puzzle.

Apart from their CRM tribulations, Carsome also confronted hurdles when they attempted to develop and embed their live chat support widget into their mobile applications. This was a two-fold challenge. Firstly, they lacked clear and comprehensive directions to navigate this intricate process. Secondly, the absence of appropriate resources, both in terms of human expertise and technical support, further complicates the issue. The absence of a well-defined roadmap delayed their progress in enhancing their mobile applications with the live chat support widget, which had the potential to significantly improve customer engagement.

Finding the Solution

To solve these problems, Carsome knew they needed a smart plan. They realized that just using technology wouldn't be enough. Fixing these issues meant careful planning, getting help from experts, and being creative with new ideas.

Regarding the issue of historical data within their CRM system, our proposed solution involved a substantial revamping of their data management procedures. The recommendation was to implement a rigorous data entry system, emphasizing consistency and accuracy. This required a concerted effort to ensure that all customer data was entered uniformly and accurately into the CRM, eradicating the creation of redundant records. Additionally, a robust data linkage mechanism was established to amalgamate customer records over time, not only thwarting data duplication but also furnishing a holistic view of customer interactions.

In addressing the challenge of integrating old and new databases, Carsome sought us as the experts of CRM who could bridge the gap seamlessly. We devised a strategy for the smooth migration of the old database into their CRM while safeguarding data integrity and averting duplication. This strategic collaboration allowed Carsome to unify its data sources, optimizing operational efficiency and paving the way for more streamlined data management.

Facing the complexity of organizing data, we took a systematic approach where we migrated their data into relevant groups and used a strong tagging system. This method made it much easier for them to track each customer's history and connect related parts. As a result, not only was the improvement in data organization clear, but it also helped make better decisions based on complete information.

Facing challenges in adding the livechat widget to mobile apps, Carsome decided to be proactive. They need an appropriate resources, both in terms of human expertise and technical support. This combined effort could help them overcome the problems and offer a smooth experience to customers on their mobile apps, making their customer interactions even better.

Implementations & Results

A web untangled.

The issue arised when they had a custom module in their CRM system that created each old customer as a new entity, rather than connecting them to their existing records. The implementation process involved the introduction of key modules to enhance their operational efficiency and customer interactions. The focal point of this initiative was the introduction of the contacts and deals module, a strategic move to streamline the tracking of interactions. In this approach, each interaction was designated as a deal, and these deals were linked to the respective contact. This meant that every contact could potentially have multiple deals, reflecting the frequency of their interactions with Carsome. The system was designed to create a new deal and link it to an existing contact when a new interaction occurred. In cases where no existing contact was found, a new deal would be created.

Decluttering 700,000 of data.

Not only that, Carsome faced a formidable challenge as they tried to integrate their old database with the new one within their CRM ecosystem. The magnitude of this digital overhaul became evident during the migration of data. A staggering 700,000 records needed to be meticulously decluttered and migrated into the new modules. This intricate process required a meticulous separation of data into contacts and interactions, turning one massive dataset into two distinct databases which is contact and deal database. The complexity escalated as each interaction had to be linked back to the corresponding contacts, demanding a delicate balance between data organization and historical continuity.

Despite the challenges, the team successfully navigated this complex data migration exercise. The process involved linking the deals back to the contacts module, a feat that required meticulous effort and attention to detail. Through strategic implementation, we had seamlessly integrated their historical data into the new digital infrastructure, setting the stage for enhanced operational insights.

Right guidance leads to straight path.

Lastly, Carsome also confronted hurdles when they attempted to develop and embed SalesIQ support widget into their mobile applications. To ensure a smooth transition and ongoing support, routine weekly sessions were established. These sessions served as a platform for collaborative discussions and Q&A, providing a direct avenue for problem-solving. The proactive engagement of the team not only facilitated immediate issue resolution but also allowed for the conveyance of critical messages to Zoho when needed. As a result, Carsome successfully incorporated SalesIQ widget into their mobile applications, marking a significant milestone in their digital journey.

What our client says about our service?

Working with Aplikasi over the past 5 months has been an absolute delight. They have seamlessly implemented different Zoho applications tailored to our business and offered feedback on different use cases. What sets them apart is their unwavering commitment to understanding our unique challenges and pain points. Aplikasi immerses themselves in our problem statement and works tirelessly to provide effective solutions using Zoho, highlighting the flexibility of the Zoho ecosystem in the process. Their expertise and dedication have transformed the way we operate, making us more efficient and productive. I wholeheartedly recommend Zoho as well as Aplikasi to anyone seeking tech implementation partners in Malaysia who truly care about their clients' success.
— Carsome

What apps have been deployed

Zoho CRM

Zoho SalesIQ

Ready to turn your business challenges into success stories? Let’s explore how Aplikasi can simplify and streamline your operations—just like we’ve done for businesses across various industries.